Vinter Year 502 | Fenrir's haunting howls have ushered in a great and terrible winter. All throughout the valley thick blankets of snow fall and hide away whatever foliage lay beneath. Temperatures plummet throughout the night with gharrish winds that seem to slip through every mortals very bones. Even the Wastelands can feel it, a great chill sweeping up the slopes of the ravine and across the sands during the night. Best to turn your eyes to the Houses for safety if you haven't already, nonpartisans. The lingering dark and shortened days mean nothing but ill for the Valley. It will be a winter to remember, and fight, surely.

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Fjalltindr Commoner

Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters. Toothless bites, mouthless mutters. Wind. It was chill, it brought forth the coming of winter. Flakes of snow drifted lightly upon it, twisting and swirling in a fanciful array of beauty. Playful, pretty, yet dreadful and dishonest they signified the coming of death for those in the valley without places to call their own. Without Houses over their heads to protect them from their coming doom.

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt. Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes out first and follows after. Ends life, kills laughter. Oh the darkness was coming. The darkness of winter was so close upon its closing, it was eating away at the very fabric of the earth as the valley fell apart. Fenrir upon the ‘throne’, direwolves roaming free, and soon, frozen cold bodies lying upon the ground as they were overcome with the ferocity of this season. It was indeed a dark, dark time.

It had overcome the young king of the North. Caelian, the sovereign of Ambrosius, had fallen into a pit of his own making. He was shrouded by the things of evil, the making of a shadow. He had fallen so far into himself that he hadn’t even seen what he’d become, the monster of the north.

On this day, the beast had roamed from behind his borders, behind the closed doors of the unwelcoming Ambrosius lands. He ventured out into the lands, towards the Marshian Woods, now covered in a thin layer of ice and frost. His hooves clicked upon ice and fell through at a few places, dirting his overly shiny and clean coat. He snarled whenever this happened, not standing for the mud that now lightly layered his ankles. He continued on, his face riddled with disgust.

Nonpartisan

Having seemed to already drunk his fill of the Slidr Lake scenery for the time. This seemed like a large land and he had already decided that he should see it all. If an angry magic tree put him here, he was not about to argue with it. Again He's just sort of accepting that he lives here now, but he's also not certain where or what 'here' is. He new one thing though. He arrived at the cusp of winter as the ground began to harden and pale flakes of snow drifted from the heavens. It may also be the very end of winter, but if that were the case, he was afraid of what barren landscape spring might be. This was Lirr lost in wonderland, everything foreign and strange where up was down, horses bones where on the outside of their body, and trees were mean. It couldn't all be mildly terrifying, could it? Yes, yes it very well could, he decided as he wandered away from the lake and was over taken by a pungent smell as he awkwardly crunched through the not yet frozen solid ground that continued to betray him.

His feet resting on top only to suddenly give way into the still soft under bearings of mud and water, mostly buried skeletons occasionally rearing death's head his way as they peek through the murky waters. One of his feet became stuck for a moment and as he paused to wretch his limb free, he stood there on three feet, his eyes swiveling around and he looked around, the sound of someone else's foot steps reaching his ears. Seems even here, there were others wandering out though why someone would willingly enter a place like this was beyond him. Looking up to the sky, he would much prefer to fly over a wrecked ground like this, but they were still sore and he wasn't sure how far he could even fly himself and the only thing worse than walking through a marsh was LANDING in a marsh. Returning his stare to the horizon line, he called out a bit sheepishly "Hello? Who's there?" He spoke up, but didn't yell, not sure who or WHAT might be out there.

Fjalltindr Commoner

The sound of cracking ice and the splash of a hoof broke the silence, and Caelian stopped. He lowered his head, narrowing his eyes and scanning the low scenery around him, trying his best not to inhale the horrid smell around him. As he turned, his hooves went along with him, and ice shattered beneath him, causing the lithe stallion to leap away with a shutter, scowling. Then, a voice broke through the air. Who’s there?

A wicked smile crossed the dark king’s face. Electricity sparked sadly along his wet hoof, uncontrollable as the particles of water easily conducted the shock within his veins. He walked towards the voice, light on his feet he tried not to fall through. As he came around, he spotted the one who had spoke, examining the wings that decorated his ebon hide. Painted with gold, he was an interesting sight. Then Caelian emerged, drawn up in all his dark glory as he stared down upon the smaller stallion.

"It seems I am not to be left to my own demise," Caelian voiced, his tone low and calculating as he narrowed his eyes upon the stranger before him, tilting his head slightly as if sizing him up to see if he would make a good addition to the Ambrosius House. With his amazingly foreign accent drifting the wind, light and smooth, he spoke again. ”And what would bring a pegasus to a land such as this? Why not fly around…” He stopped, his eyebrows raising in the slightest way. ”Why bother?” Then he looked down at the hooves of the other man, tracing to his wings. ”Oh but I see… your wings hang as if having to endure a long adventure. Your eyes glance to the sky you wish to touch but cannot, at least not without pain.”

The royal sighed, tracing the ground beneath his hooves and up a tree to the sky in one graceful movement. ”I touched the great beyond once. I have not experienced the breeze of the wind in a long time. It’s not the same, being stuck down here. If only I could remember how I did it, reached the clouds.” His eyebrows scrunched together for a moment, before his face relaxed and he looked back to the winged male before him, slight amusement on his face. ”Perhaps you can help me.”

Lirr wasn't sure what he was expecting to approach, but a living shadow was certainly not in his mental lotto for possibilities. No, no it was not a real shadow, it was a being like he, or at least sorta. Made of flesh and blood from what he could tell. The way the approaching stallion moved and behaved was another story altogether, something about the way he approached seemed not off, but unnatural in a way he thought spirits would move. Fluid, unaffected by the world around them. Being the second he came across since the tree, his ideas on the new land were a bit misguided to say the least. Based on the two thus far, it seemed to be a bleak, cold land filled with attractive, but so very odd stallions. That's not something he was about to complain about though. That was until the shadow spoke to him.

He spoke of his demise as well as Lirr's lack of flight and comparing it to his own. It wasn't like he was speaking to Lirr though, more as if he was speaking at him, not really expecting a response. Every time he started to open his mouth, the tall male began again, not quite rambling, but it reminded him of when Lirr was left to his own devices and spoke to himself. How long had he been out here alone? At least he assumed the stranger was alone, and perhaps a bit crazy. Flying? How could he have possibly flown before with no wings? And he expected Lirr to teach him? "Uh, I'm gonna have to to stop you there mister shadow," He began, his brows furrowing, still rather confused by the whole of the interaction. "I don't know who you are, or what you think you are for that matter, but you seem to be kinda... uh... no crazy sounds mean..." He paused, trying to think of a better word, but it didn't really matter, he already called him crazy, the damage was done. "Oh, oops, well, anyway, I can't teach you to fly, it sorta requires wings." He held open one wing, the large collection of feathers unfolding into a long, elegant wing whose undercarriage was nothing but darkness, a void from light that stretched up towards the sky. "And I'm rather attached to these." He mumbled under his breath in addition as it carefully folded back up at his side, the gold that decorated the top becoming visible once more. He was a bit worried that there was more than one screw loose and that the stranger's 'perhaps you can help me' implied him taking Lirr's wings.

Fjalltindr Commoner

Words travelled across the distance of the two stallions as breath drifted away from the dark pegasus’ lips. Though Caelian was a lost cause, it was quite apparent that this certain stallion the king had found was full of life and wonder in a new, foreign land. At his first statement, the freckled man gave a slight tilt to his head, both his silvery dead eye and brilliant ocean blue watching the winged male. Amusement glinted upon his muzzle as his ears twitched slightly, listening. At first he was called “mister shadow,” at which his smile grew ever slightly wider. Then he was informed of his strange behaviour, being named “crazy” by the pegasus. At this, the enjoyment upon Caelian’s face practically gleamed. Still, he did not speak, waiting for the other to finish just as he had done for the freckled king. About requiring wings, the sovereign’s eyes moved away and gazed beyond the shoulder of the other, scanning the land behind him, but when he extended a great, elegant wing that much reminded Caelian of Nevermore, eyes were drawn back to attention. He gave a small chuckle at the last comment that left the other’s lips, glancing down to the ground in front of him. "I would be, too," he murmured back, suddenly snapping his eyes to the amethyst ones of Lirr, he spoke softly, much like a snake, even going as far as to tilted his head slightly once again and narrowing his eyes in the smallest of ways. ”But I think not. Not all that are wingless cannot enjoy the joy that belongs to a pegasus…” He paused for a moment, completely freezing with a blank expression written upon his face.

But it was only for a moment. A keen smile spread like butter upon bread on his velveted lips, and he seemed all of a sudden joyful in a malicious way. ”I think I’ve quite remembered how to do that!” He closed his eyes gently, and under his breath he spoke words unique to the tongue of his land, words that could never be understood by the ears of these natives. ”Przyjdź do mnie z piórami, które posiadałem.” And suddenly, vast wings of pure darkness burst from his shoulders, stretching up to the sky. He shook them out and twisted his neck to examine them as he folded them gently along his back. Quite too large for his body, they stuck out off his spine and brushed each other at their tips. Looking back to Lirr, he gave an amusing smile.

Nonpartisan

The smile that had crept onto the duel horned male sent a chill down unsuspecting Lirr's hide. If the cold in the air wasn't enough, the dead eyed gaze surely robbed him of any warmth his body had to provide in that moment. Though as he went to outstretch his wing for the horned stranger, he noticed the gaze shift out beyond him. As it returned to it's place, folded neatly at his side, Lirr tore his eyes away from him for a moment, glancing back behind him curiously but didn't see anything, perhaps he was just boring him for a moment? That was the only explanation he could think of in the short time his attention was focused on the matter. The chuckle was just as unsettling as he expected it to be, his small wings shuffling around uncomfortably though it seemed he wasn't intended on physically taking Lirr's large wings, the literal meaning of his wings being attached to him having been lost on the charcoal speckled stallion.

His ears had already been leaned back partially, but as he spoke again, the serpentine like sound forced him back. Ears pinned back, he leaned back slightly, a single hoof moving back. Even the words 'Not all that are wingless cannot enjoy the joy that belongs to a pegasus' sounded like a a riddle. He had never seen one without wings fly. He had on one occasion seen them fall and despite the flight like sensation, the ground was far more unforgiving to those without wings. When he froze in place, eyes unfocused from reality, Lirr cautiously spoke "But it's not a good idea." Suddenly the horned beast burst awake once more with excitement, startling the poor young pegasus again, his feathers ruffling as he shuffled in the mud like a frightened bird. And suddenly, among Lirr's panic, the unnamed swamp dweller began speaking in what he could only describe as tongues.

A shadowy vision burst forth in front of him, wings bearing darkness down over the already ebony painted male. Lirr's eyes had grown wide, stepping back, his hind quarter's colliding with a tree trunk and unsure what else to do, pulled his large wings forward, cowering behind the sheet of golden tipped feathers. He wasn't sure what the other was even doing at this point, afraid to look, but knowing full well he couldn't really run in this thick of dense mud. He would surely crash through the thin sheet of ice and break something in the process if he attempted it.

Fjalltindr Commoner

It was obvious Caelian had frightened the young pegasus. The sudden and abrupt actions the king had acted upon sent the other into a spook, cowering behind the cover of his wings. For one moment, confusion writ upon the freckled man’s feature, and he took a cautious step towards the ebon stallion. A small part of Caelian’s insanity flickered, and something like kindness slipped from his tongue, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you." Yet, just like that, it was gone. His eyes became cold and emotionless once again. He straightened slightly, flapping his wings and creating great gusts of wind around his lithe body.

He wondered what the winter sky felt like. He fancied a dreamy flight, the feathers upon his newfound wings crystallizing in the the chill yet not affecting his icy exposure. He was too accustomed to the frost to be affected by temperatures such as this. He settled his wings upon his back once again, ruffling the feathers a little bit before he looked back to the pegasus. Standing in silence, he waited and watched the other for any actions of emerging. It was hard to tell how he felt, his emotions were frozen under a hard layer of ice such as fish under a frosted over pond. Condensation drifted before his eyes as he paused, watching a flock of birds flit over their heads, heading south. He wished he could be so free. Not that he didn’t enjoy his responsibilities. He found his position under the Ambrosius court quite fun, though he didn’t feel as if there was much a difference between king and civilians. It was how he had made it back then, whenever then was. Darkness clouded his memories, he couldn’t remember. It was starting to annoy him.

Nonpartisan

The sound of Caelian's voice bore no hostility and even carried an apology, tearing the cowering male away from his hiding spot temporarily. Slowly, he peered up over the wings, taking an assessment of the situation. It seemed the horned male had indeed sprouted a pair of wings. His heart was pounding in his chest from the fright, rather weary of Caelian now, but what could he possibly do? He was anything but a fighter and would stand no chance should a fight ever actually arise. He ducked behind his wings again as the gust of the night painted stallion unfurled and flapped his wings, forcing short bursts of air to push up against Lirr. Once the wind stopped, he lowered his wings slightly and spoke quietly. "I uh... I see you've got some wings there, friend." Slowly, he returned his wings to his side, left standing bare and a bit embarrassed of his frightful reaction. Shuffling his small wings around, he glanced up at Caelian before looking back down in the mud.

"I suppose now that you kinda, very much have wings now and didn't steal mine, I could maybe probably teach you to fly." A hard knot had formed in his throat, intimidated by him, Lirr was afraid to refuse him. Besides, what harm could it possibly be to teach someone to fly? He took a few steps to the side, keeping the distance between them, but moving to encourage Caelian to either follow, or perhaps lead since Lirr himself was lost "If, uh, if we do, finding somewhere open enough to spread your wings would be best." His voice cracked when he said best, his nerves strung far too tight, coughing slightly, giving another fleeting glance towards him, meeting the gaze of the glassed white eye and quickly tearing himself back away. Perhaps he really WAS being haunted or this was all just a nightmare, but the more he thought about it, the less that seemed to be the case. This was indeed reality, a strange reality, but it was nothing he could help.

Fjalltindr Commoner

Caelian curiously watched the other stallion reamerge from his winged hideaway, looking slightly abashed and murmuring quiet words. At being called ‘friend,’ the freckled king gave a strange shutter, as if trying to remember something that he could not. He didn’t answer, momentarily distracted by the word and completely missing the glance Lirr gave him.

At the next statement released from the black pegasus’ lips, the insane man gave a short and strange jump. His voice became distant, almost ghostly rather than near like it was earlier. "Oh, I would very much like that," he sounded, his eyes drifting up towards the sky. Movement on Lirr’s part caused them to snap back down, even if he could only see out of one of them. Caelian’s ears flicked as he listened to the young man’s sentence, hearing the cracking of his voice at the end. Emotionless. Dead. He had no thoughts upon the nervousness in the other. He hardly noticed it.

He trotted up to the smaller stallion, almost drifting over the ice as he pieced a path through the bog. ”It should not be far,” he said omniously, floating past the black youth and hardly waiting for him. He was ready to fly, even if it took him an amount of frusteration and trying. He’d done it once, he could do it again. Though, he knew this time would be different. This time, he was taking off from the ground up rather than leaping from the side of a cliff. It would take more strength, more power. He raised his chin ever so slightly; he would be able to do it.

Nonpartisan

He tried not to question the stranger's movement too much anymore, merely accepting it for what it was. That was easier said than done however as Caelian had broken out in a strange shiver before speaking in a bizarre, not tone, no. This was no tone, it sounded like the very pits of condemned spirits of the underworld. Distant and empty. The sound collided with the trees nearby and even they seemed to wane in protest at it's unearthly sound.

At the prospect of flying, the pelt adorned by darkness turned heel off in a direction Lift had yet travelled. Dancing back a few weary steps, he thrust his head back to avoid losing his nose to the excited shadow man. Another hard swallow pressed down against the knott that so fervently remained lodged in his throat. His first steps were careful, cautious ones as he begin to follow, untrusting of neither Caelian or the ice below his feet. He sped up in order to keep pace with his new companion's long stride. It wasn't much like his own in a long legged gait, but Lirr did not match in the towering height, leaving him to take a brisker pace. Just as promised, a sort of clearing soon came into view up ahead.

First the small wings unfolded and folded once, then twice, then a third time before remaining open. His own pace slowed to allow a bit more distance between the pair as his large wings started to unfurl. He could see it, the edge of the trees. This was finally his means of escaping the walking nightmare before him. Stretched high into the sky and then shrinking into a half fold, he bounded off. One, two, THREE! With a powerful leap his wings swished down in a well practiced and perfected display of power and control. A gust of wind came pressed down against Caspian, Life's own hooves nearly grazing the freckled hind quarters as he had no descent. He'd come free of the ground's grasp, a shadow no longer shackled by gravity. Again, ebony bladed feathers beat against the wind lifting him up past the trees, a shadow unshackled from the likes of gravity.

Like a frightened bird, he'd chosen flight over fight and continued on the blessed freedom of interrupted air space. A deep sigh of relief having escaped damnation was so very short lived as the patch of open quickly grew distant. Glancing back over his shoulder, a pang of guilt prevented him from just leaving. How could he possibly deny someone such a feeling. Despite the protests from his own self preservation, he banked around over the tree tops and readied himself for a very... condensed landing.

Fjalltindr Commoner

Caelian heard not but the quiet silence around him, the silence of winter, before the flapping of miniscule wings filled the air. Then, much larger, greater wings followed. A gust of wind soared over him, ruffling his soft yet slightly tangly black mane as he turned with great excitement upon his face, the kind of excitement you might see upon a mad-man’s features.

His ocean eyes watched the black figure soar away into the grey of the clouds.

That excited smile faded away slowly, as it fell to the ground and his eyes watched the bird-like stallion flap away. His own phantom wings drooped, his mind blank, and his thoughts quiet. Slowly, he turned towards the frozen dust underneath him, slowly realising he’d been betrayed. However, he was not for the faint of heart, and with slight courage building within him, and determination, he found his wings flapping hard against that frozen dust he stood upon. Hardly did his hooves lift from the ground, and he stopped, tilting his head sideways and closing his eyes, inhaling deeply as one does when they are conserving their anger.

He whipped his head back to the sky with ferocity, his eyes narrowing upon the stallion that had called him crazy, made him foolish. Yet, upon further observation, he noticed the younger steed had altered his course of direction, and now gilded back towards Caelian’s position. Surprise struck the freckled one; he had expected a chase to commence.

As the winged man came into earshot, the ambrosian king said onto him, "Flight before fight, I see. But I had no reason to attack you. Now, circumstances may seem different, as you blatantly took me for a fool." He had straightened to his full height, an intimidating mass he was as he glared down his long nose at the youth. Then, he seemed to relax, yet still held that tension upon his face as he turned it away, elegantly. ”No matter,” he straightened his neck out, meeting the purple gaze of the other with his dicoloured eyes, one a brilliant ocean blue and the other, dead, glassy and silver. His voice softened, his tone changing throughout his sentence. High at the beginning and dropping lower as his accent filtered through the air. ”I’m glad you returned.” Then, finally, he opened his right wing and extended it outwards, displaying the full glory of the darkness that seemed to envelope each feather. He examined it with that same elegant gaze, before once again turning his piercing gaze back to Lirr, tilted his head with a small, closed-lipped smile, ”Shall we?”

Nonpartisan

He could hear the angered tension that bore through the shadow man's voice upon his return and for a brief moment considered just flying past rather than facing the man's wrath. But alas, despite his own self-preservation clawing at his brain, he circled around the opening at a sharp angle as front legs stretched out before him and connecting with the ground as he landed himself into the marsh with a sense of grace and control that as awe inspiring as it was, not a drop of it translated into his words as his gaze met with Caelian's dead eye and frustrated expression. His wings did not fully close, hanging partially open as he lowered his head to him as if he was a scolded foal. Lirr wasn't even going to attempt to lie his way out of trouble, it wasn't in his nature, rather letting the truth spill out despite the possible repercussions. He did however offer an excuse as to his sudden departure. "I'm sorry, but can we just, maybe agree that you are absolutely terrifying? Because you are." He remained a bit hunkered, certainly not displaying any sort of defiance that would warrant violence. He'd been thrust into several tense and potentially violent scenarios before coming to the valley and his delicate feminine figure paired with this submissive behavior is what usually spared him the heavy hand of the power hungry.

The thick knot once again returning to his throat for it's unwanted encore as that all devouring darkness Caelian called wings spread before him. His eyes drawn to them in a way a frightened deer looks at it's own encroaching doom. There was no denying him a second time without dire consequences and he was not about to risk such a thing. A soft, forced laugh slipped from his lips in a nervous manner as he nodded slightly. "I, uh, guess we shall?" His small wings began there familiar nervous fidgeting as he began. "So you just uh, open your wings first-" He kept his head low, but attention returning to the young's face he spread his own large wings out lifting them to the sky to demonstrate. "Cause without a running start, you're gonna need to get a good amount of air up under your wings just to get off the ground." He explained, waiting for him to mimic before continuing on. His own wings seemed to curve as if cupping the air. He crouched slightly, lowering his haunches as if coiling a spring, the musculature beneath his taught hide becoming more defined before he burst forth up, pushing off with his hind legs while his wings where forced down, giving him the extra lift necessary to take to the wind. With each press of his wings, Lirr rose high, front legs tucked beneath him and hind legs coiled behind him like an equine frozen mid jump as he quickly cleared the tree line with his harsh angle of incline. Unlike before, he didn't attempt to leave and instead began to circle around the clearing over the trees, His own shadowing wings spread out as he glided, watching the world below him.

He looked on with terrified curiosity. Flying in the air was the easy part, but getting off the ground, especially in a place such as this would surely provide a challenge for any inexperienced fliers.

Fjalltindr Commoner

The response Caelian received from the black pegasus made him smile slightly, and he almost dared to laugh lightly, but it went no further than the tip of his tongue. Instead, he sat silently and watched the other closely, waiting for what would happen next. Would he run away again, or would he stay?

It seemed he’d found it better to stay, and started giving the young king directions on how one flies. Caelian took no time copying the younger stallion, though he felt slightly resentful about it. He lifted his own wings, curling them as he did so, but he did not feel any breeze buoying him up, and he felt slightly nervous about this. Would he have the strength to leap into the air, or the courage to leave the ground behind? He was temporarily lost in a nightmare, one where he endlessly flapped his wings until he fell tired, weary and out-of-breath into a dark hole; yet, he had never managed to leave the ground and he was forever stuck in the hole he’d fallen into.

He snapped out of this daydream as he saw the other take off easily, soaring out of reach and circling around his head. Caelian gave a sad sigh, trying to mimic exactly the same thing Lirr had gone. He crouched, building his muscle in his hind legs, before bursting forth and flapping once, then twice with great strength and determination. For a moment, he felt the wind beneath his body and a gleam of glee and excitement coursed through him, before something extremely sharp and painful pierced the wings he was flying on. In his happiness, he’d ran into a tree and saw with great frusteration that his wings were desenegrating before his eyes, the dark feathers drifting off into the breeze as he, his body, remained strangely snagged in the tree. He looked up to Lirr fiercely.

Nonpartisan

Lirr didn't really expect him to be able to clear the trees and even doubted just how much he'd be able to get off the ground. It took more than just having a air of wings to fly, but they certainly helped. He watched as wings of night pushed forth and the young king rose into the sky to Lirr's own surprise, but as soon as he did, he could only watch in mild horror. Like a wreck in slow motion, the gilded stallion knew full well what was about to happen and could do nothing to stop it. While Caelian managed to get enough air in his wings to get off the ground, he severely lacked in incline as he came crashing head first into the trees becoming ensnared in their gnarled grasp. It wasn't that long ago that he himself became entangled in the branches of the Bifrost, but at least he had wings and was high enough to find his way down to the ground with little injury. Caelian however didn't even make it to the branches, instead colliding into the thick of the trunk. He got close though, but his wings were blown away on the wind and he was left a dazzled stallion on the ground. Lirr's whole body flinched as he watched the impact, feeling sorry for the outcome.

Letting out a sigh, he descended down into the mud with those chained to the likes of gravity. Landing with as much grace as before, he kept with the moment, trotting carefully before managing to slow to a walk as he carefully approached, sort of peering from a tail's length away. "Are you okay? Your wings kinda... poofed." He spoke careful, not wanting to invoke any rage or frustration Caelian might have onto him. He paused a moment, taking another step, his head lowered as he took another step towards him. "I think you did pretty good for a first try. It's harder to fly up like that then it looks." Lirr tried to comfort him, but fear prevented him from closing the distance. "Do you want to try again? It'd probably be better somewhere with few trees to worry about."

Fjalltindr Commoner

The black pegasus within the sky swept back down to the ground and landed a few feet away from Caelian, obviously afraid. A sigh escaped the king’s mouth, and something like regret and an extremely drained expression found his face as he glanced over at Lirr. "I’m sorry," he said for a moment, in quite a different tone. It was almost hype, ”I don’t think I ever caught your name. I’m Caelian.”

Finally, the words Lirr just spoke seemed to reach his ears, even after they’d been spoken in their entirety. He looked down at the ground, then pushed himself up to his feet. ”That’s alright,” he said simply, and the shadow-like wings gathered once again at his shoulders and stretched out into the air. ”Yeah, let’s try again. Let’s find a better place.” He looked up into the distance and began trotting in search of a place less flat, his voice completely void of all emotion. It was as if hitting the tree had smacked reality in his face, and he almost knew he’d never be able to get off the ground. But, he wished to try at least once more. Maybe, just maybe, he would be able to fly into the sky again, to experience the air in his mane. It was a wish, but he had wings again, surely, it was possible. All he needed to do was remember how he’d done it before. He had no regrets before. He didn’t care if he fell into the ocean and drowned. Maybe he needed to apply that consciousness again, and he’d be able to soar.